Daredevil Jeb Corliss, 30, who was busted Thursday while trying to parachute off the Empire State Building, has made a life out of pushing the limits, parachuting off some of the world’s tallest buildings and defying death on more than one occasion.

“It’s what is known as a life experience,” he said in an interview in 2004, after plunging off a bridge in Twin Falls, Idaho, where other jumpers have been killed.

As he awaited arraignment yesterday, his attorney, Mel Sachs, said Corliss had found his muse in pushing the limits.

“It’s a sense of self-fulfillment and being able to make possible what seems to be impossible,” Sachs said.

The California-based adventurer has turned his obsession into a moneymaker, producing several highly praised underground videos of his stunts and parlaying it into a job as the host of the Discovery Channel’s “Stunt Junkies.”

That is, until his latest stunt, which got him booted from the cable channel, Discovery execs announced yesterday.

On the show, Corliss featured danger-seekers doing backflips on all-terrain vehicles over moving trains and jumping from one moving plane to another.

Corliss’ specialty has always been the high-adrenaline sport of BASE jumping. An acronym for bridge, antenna, span and earth dives, it’s a variation of parachuting done off terrestrial structures at extremely low altitudes.

In a field where conditions vary widely, practitioners have to become their own experts, adjusting the rules and their gear with each jump.

“He’s the best at what he does. He’s the créme de la créme of the sport,” said his close friend, Iiro Seppanen, 30, a retired BASE jumper from Finland who lives in Los Angeles.

Corliss channeled his inner King Kong Thursday in his attempt to jump off New York’s tallest building – which celebrates its 75th birthday next week – but was not quick enough to get away from building security, who had been tipped off that someone might try to pull the stunt.

“It’s just par for the course around here,” said an employee at the New York icon building yesterday. “Last time was about five or six years ago. All the BASE jumpers want to come here.”

Discovery Channel officials insist the stunt had nothing to do with “Stunt Junkies.”

The last jumper to make it off the Empire State Building was Norwegian daredevil Thor Alex Kappfjell.

He made the plunge in 1998, calling the stunt “my biggest dream for many years.”

Three days later, he dived from the 61st floor of the Chrysler building. In both cases, he managed to vanish before police could catch him.

Kappfjell pushed his luck, though, when six months later he was arrested after jumping off the World Trade Center.

He told The Post as he was being led away: “It was fantastic. I have no words to describe it.”

Three months later, he was dead, killed at age 32 when he slammed into a cliff face jumping off a 3,000-foot mountain near Oslo, Norway.

Corliss may be trying to model his life after the late Norwegian sky king.

Last year, he released a documentary titled “A Year in the Life” that followed him as he jumped from bridges, cliffs and buildings around the globe.

Using custom-built gear – highly modified parachutes and packs costing thousands of dollars – Corliss somersaulted off one of the world’s highest structures.

To celebrate the Millennium, Corliss and 14 others dived off the Petronas Towers in Malaysia, then the world’s tallest building at 1,483 feet.

Corliss passed through Seattle, Japan and Venezuela before making his way to South Africa, where he was nearly killed.

There, a malfunction sent him plummeting through the raging Howick Falls, breaking his back in three places, and shattering his ribs, left foot and knee.

Rescuers arduously worked for nine hours to get to him.

He was back at his high-wire antics two months later.

According to Seppanen, Corliss has made more than 3,000 jumps in 30 countries and five continents.

“Only a handful of people have done as many,” he said.

The highest leap Corliss has made was from the same 3,000-foot mountain that killed Kappfjell in Norway.

That free fall alone took 20 seconds, Seppanen said.

And last May, Corliss became one of only three people to dive into the world’s deepest cave – an 1,800-foot grotto in central China.

He has even tried to break the bonds of physics, participating in tests of a “winged suit” that would render traditional parachutes a thing of the past.

While he may be at the top of what is clearly a very difficult game, he’s still crazy as a loon, said several visitors to the Empire State Building yesterday.

“It’s kind of crazy. I guess you have to be crazy to be a BASE jumper,” said Dave Hill, 27, visiting from Dublin, Ireland.

“I’m sure he had a plan, but it was still kind of stupid, but every man is his own.”

Spiraling costs

$5.95 Fake mustache

$ 6,000 Sony HDV camera and Sony fisheye lens

$15,000 Fat suit that hid gear on his way up

$3,500 Custom-made parachute

$350 Jumpsuit

$ 500 Helmet withcamera mount

FAST FACTS

* Empire State Building ‘s 75th anniversary is next week (May 1).

* Observation deck is 1,050 feet from sidewalk.

* Last man to jump off the building was Thor Alex Kappfjelll on Oct.25,1998.

* A free-falling body plummets at 32 feet per second.

* Corliss,30,has attempted more than 3,000 jumps over eight years.

* He was fired as host of Discovery Channel ‘s “Stunt Junkies” as a result of Thursday ‘s stunt.